”…All you need to do is sit at a typewriter and open up a vein.”
I read this quote today and it hit me. That’s what writing is. It’s opening yourself up and letting your lifeblood out on pages. (Please do not actually do that.) But, this quote has got me thinking about about publishing and actually Getting Shit Done. It’s funny because last night, I wrote for the first time in months. Hurting your back does not help creativity. Back to the point. Assuming there is one. When I think about writing, I do not care about publishing. I write to write. When it comes to editing, then I start wondering about the possibility of making money. Which is odd to me. Writing has always been about art. Sadly, it seems like the more popular authors aren’t about art, they’re about profit or self-insertion fantasies. I point you to Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. And Twilight. And Fifty Shades. And several others. But, point, there is one being made here… I think. One thing that depresses me is how so many great ideas get destroyed by committee. Think of any book turned in to a movie. How great ideas get absolutely gutted by the “Hollywood Hacks”. While this is mostly what happens to things in a visual medium, it can still happen when writing. Notes from editors can be extremely helpful. But, then there are ones that aren’t so helpful. ”Why is this character black? The story would sell better if he/she was white.” ”Is there any way you can drop this (very critical subplot that deals with touchy subject matter)? We’re worried it will hurt sales.” And so on. I know it happens. It’s depressing because there are all sorts of books and all sorts of writers. And I think I lost the point I was trying to make. My mind is very much on the “Oscars So White” thing. It really irritates me. This, coming from a white guy. I’m the target audience and I’M not happy with the lack of diversity. That says something… I suppose, if I try to salvage some sort of thought to unite this, that the issue is that there should always be passion in writing and art. And there’s a lot of it to be found. And, I think it should be pointed out, that it’s not just angry white guys that feel such passion. I’ve been talking with someone about writing and stories and stuff. They mentioned how they have a lot of stories that just petered out, and it got me to thinking about my own writing. I’d been meaning to write this for a while, so it was the perfect chance to get it done. When I was younger, I read a lot of epic books. I don’t mean that it the new, stupid way (saying something is amazing or cool), but in the traditional way in that these were long, complicated stories that spanned several books or one really long one. Things like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the Dark Elf trilogy, The Stand, and others I can’t remember. There’s also series like Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time, but the concept of the epic isn’t exclusive to the fantasy genre, it’s just more common in the genre. There’s also epic movies and TV shows, things that made several sequels or told long, complicated stories. Things like Star Wars, Star Trek, even Buffy the vampire slayer. Oh, and Stargate: SG-1. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender was an epic story. But you know what? It doesn’t always have to be that way. When I was younger, I read epics and didn’t read short stories. As I grew older, I started reading more and more short stories. And you know what? Those short stories can be just as amazing or “epic” as a book over a thousand pages. Sometimes, even more so. Because they can give you an amazing story, but it a short amount of space. Stephen King writes some fantastic short stories. Richard Matheson is a great short story author. And it shows in his episodes of The Twilight Zone. He also did I Am Legend, which is not much over 100 pages. Even William Gibson creates good short stories. One of the things I’ve learned about writing, and reading, is that short stories are a good way to learn how to craft a story. The shorter the story, the more you have to compress your words. You can’t spend twenty pages on exposition because the whole story should be no more than twenty pages. You have to learn how to get your point across in a clear and concise manner. It’s a lot harder than you’d think. Trust me. When I first started “writing”, about twenty years ago now, I wanted to make epic, long, complicated stories. I would get disappointed by short stories because I always wondered what happened next. (Yes, I’m aware that some of you say the same thing about my stuff, it gives me a chuckle. Then again, it’s a sign I did a good job.) Anyway, back to the point. I wanted to tell these amazing stories with twists and turns… And they would take forever and never get finished. Eventually, I picked up how to outline a story, and while my stories got shorter, I was always fighting with them. If it wasn’t on the outline, it didn’t get included. Which isn’t always good. Sometimes, you come up with a scene or a character that changes things for the better. Sure, you’ll have to do some editing but there’s always room for more in the first draft. And I wouldn’t allow that. So, I got frustrated and would give up. It also feels like I've already “told” the story, so why bother with actually writing it? After picking up and dropping writing several times, I’ve given up on outlines. I rarely write them down. I’ll write down a quick idea of the story, but never an outline. Unless I’m working with someone else. After I picked up writing again a few years back, I somehow learned how to write short stories. I learned how to express just what I wanted to say. How to capture the emotion inside me. I don’t know who I did it, but in that time, I started reading a lot of collections of short stories. In addition to the collections by Matheson, King, and Gibson I mentioned above, I also picked up things like Wastelands and The Living Dead. I keep my eye out for collections at the Goodwill. It’s always good to have things around to give you examples. I know I learn from example, so many that’s it. But, I’ve also noticed an interesting thing. A lot of big, published, famous authors have short story collections. Clearly, they’re a success, so they must be doing something right. Or selling their souls to the devil. I’ll go with doing something right… And that has to be making the story short and sweet. Or short and dark and disturbing. Whatever floats your boat. Now, there’s something else I want you think about. I mentioned The Twilight Zone earlier, correct? Well, think about that show. It’s a show without a sequential plot. Each episode is a different story. So was The Outer Limits. These days, there’s nothing like that. Even American Horror Story has a different plot each season. The X Files had a Monster of the Week stuff. If you want to understand the short story, watch the old Twilight Zone. You can also watch the old and revival Outer Limits. Both of these shows did a great job of giving you a short, concise, and entertaining story without a meta plot. These vignettes do a great job and you can learn a lot of them. These shows are visual short story collections. That’s what’s missing from TV these days. Which is a shame. So, that’s about all I’ve got to say. Short stories are a good way to get a story finished. Don’t try to write The Next Great American Novel. Just focus on finishing your next story. Finishing a story is the first step. If you don’t do that, you can’t take the next one. (Which is editing, and I’m currently fighting myself to get that done…)
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